page_title: History of Pomerania
section_title: Modern Age
hierarchical_section_title: History of Pomerania / Modern Age
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Karte der historischen preussischen Provinz PommernEnglish: Map of the historical prussian province of Pomerania
context_page_description: The history of Pomerania starts shortly before 1000 AD with ongoing conquests by newly arrived Polans rulers. Before that the area was recorded nearly 2000 years ago as Germania, and in modern-day times Pomerania is split between Germany and Poland. The name Pomerania comes from the Slavic po more, which means Land at the Sea.
  Settlement in the area started by the end of the Vistula Glacial Stage, about 13,000 years ago. Archeological traces have been found of various cultures during the Stone and Bronze Age, of Veneti and Germanic peoples during the Iron Age and, in the Middle Ages, Slavic tribes and Vikings. Starting in the 10th century, Piast Poland on several occasions acquired parts of the region from the south-east, while the Holy Roman Empire and Denmark reached the region in augmenting their territory to the west and north.
  In the High Middle Ages, the area became Christian and was ruled by local dukes of the House of Pomerania and the Samborides, at various times vassals of Denmark, the Holy Roman Empire and Poland.
context_section_description: From the Napoleonic Wars to World War I, Pomerania was administered by the Kingdom of Prussia as the Province of Pomerania (Western and Farther Pomerania) and West Prussia (Pomerelia).
  The Province of Pomerania was created from the Province of Pomerania (1653–1815) (Farther Pomerania and southern Vorpommern) and Swedish Pomerania (northern Vorpommern), and the districts of Schivelbein and Dramburg, formerly belonging to the Neumark. While in the Kingdom of Prussia, the province was heavily influenced by the reforms of Karl August von Hardenberg and Otto von Bismarck. The industrial revolution had an impact primarily on the Stettin area and the infrastructure, while most of the province retained a rural and agricultural character. Since 1850, the net migration rate was negative, Pomeranians emigrated primarily to Berlin, the West German industrial regions and overseas. Also, more than 100,000 Kashubian Poles emigrated from Pomerania between 1855 and 1900, for economic and social reasons, in what is called the Kashubian diaspora. In areas where Polish population lived along with Germans a virtual apartheid existed, with bans on Polish language and religious discrimination, besides attempts to colonize the areas with Germans Prussian Settlement Commission introduced 154,000 German colonists before World War I, which were also located in Pomerania.
  After the First World War, the Pomeranian Voivodeship of the Second Polish Republic was established from the bulk of West Prussia. Poland became a democracy and introduced women's right to vote already in 1918
  The German minority in Poland  moved in large numbers to Germany, mostly on free will and due to their economic situation Poland build a large Baltic port at the site of the former village Gdynia. The Danzig (Gdańsk) area became the city state Free City of Danzig.
  In the Province of Pomerania, that after the Kaiser's abdication was part of the Free State of Prussia within the Weimar Republic, democracy and the women's right to vote were introduced. The economic situation worsened due to the consequences of World War I and worldwide recession. As in the Kingdom of Prussia before, Pomerania was a stronghold of the nationalistic and anti-SemiticDNVP also in the Weimar Republic. The government of the state of Prussia, of which Pomerania was a province, was between 1920 and 1932 led by the Social Democrats, Otto Braun being Prussian minister-president almost continuously during this time. In contrast to its pre-war authoritarianism, Prussia was a pillar of democracy in the Weimar Republic.
caption: Map of the Prussian province Pomerania (Pommern) in 1905
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